INSIDE a Behind-The-Curtain Look at the Artists, the Company and the Art Form of This Production

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This section is part of a full New Victory® School Tool® Resource Guide. For the complete guide, including information about the New Victory Education Department, check out: NewVictory.org/SchoolTool INSIDE A behind-the-curtain look at the artists, the company and the art form of this production

COMMON CORE STANDARDS Reading: 1; 2; 3; 9 Summary Speaking and Listening: 1; 2; 3 Language: 1 PSS PSS, the secret is out: there’s not much this dynamic duo can’t do! Inspired by the silent film era, this clowning couple fumbles through merry mishaps, absurd antics and priceless pas NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS de deux. They snicker and stumble, squabble and make peace, Arts: 1; 2; 3 English Language Arts: 1; 2; 3; 4 all without a word (but with a little help from the audience!). Slapstick at its sweetest, this timeless performance celebrates the clumsy connection we make when we meet our match. BLUEPRINT FOR THE ARTS Theater: Theater Making Developing Theater Literacy Making Connections Visual Art: Art Making Literacy in Visual Arts Making Connections

5 NewVictory.org/SchoolTool THE NEW VICTORY® THEATER © The New 42nd Street New Victory® School Tool® Resource Guides Where in the world is PSS PSS from? CLO W NING + FRIENDSHIP LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND × SLAPSTICK =

FUN FACTS

Locarno, Switzerland is home to the famous Moon and Stars pop music festival, which has been hosted in the 200-year-old Piazza Grande since 1946.

This historic town’s most ancient castle, Castello Visconteo, dates back to circa 998 AD. Once the seat of the Visconti Dukes of Milan (1513 - 1798), it’s now an archaeological museum, housing Locarnese artifacts from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages! A Closer look: The predominant language spoken in Locarno, by approximately 75% of its Six years after meeting in Switzerland’s Teatro Dimitri School in 1998, inhabitants, is Italian. Simone Fassari reached out to his former classmate, Camilla Pessi, to see ppeeffaacceenn if she would be his acrobatic partner creating Compagnia Baccalà. The SSttuu ttee!! moment the pair began creating together, Simone and Camilla knew their inventive partnership was a match made in heaven. Together they perfected DID YOU KNOW? the performance techniques used to develop their clown characters and perfected their own nuanced repertoire. Now, joined by theater artist Something’s a bit fishy about Compagnia Valerio Fassari and director Louis Spagna, the dynamic duo travel the world Baccalà... Baccalà literally translates to bringing surprise and delight to audiences across the globe with their first “codfish” in Italian, a reference to an Italian full-length work, PSS PSS! expression describing a bumbling person with big eyes.

Compagnia Baccalà has won 13 international awards, including IPAY’s 2018 Victor Award, and has performed over 600 times in over 50 countries on five continents.

The Teatro Dimitri School was founded by Switzerland’s renowned mime artist, Clown Dimitri. Not only did the duo train with him, but he also performed at The New Victory Theater with La Famiglia Dimitri in 2009.

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CLOWNING

Clowning is an ancient form of theater that is rooted in physical comedy. This art form embraces and highlights the absurdity of everyday situations and has the power to transcend verbal language and cultural barriers through visual spectacle.

SLAPSTICK COMEDY

Originally, a slapstick was simply a paddle made of two pieces of wood that, when slapped together, created a “thwack” sound. According to numerous sources, the slapstick was first utilized in the 16th century by the Italian Commedia Dell’arte character, Harlequin. When he used it to tap the hinds of his prey it emphasized a comedic triumph! Slapstick, as an art form, is a type of physical comedy that is often characterized by broad humor and physical movement. It employs acrobatics, physical stunts and impeccable timing. Slapstick was prominently featured in ancient Greek and Roman theater, and was popular in the 16th century. The art form reached another apex in the form of vaudeville entertainment. Movies and television sitcoms featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers and The Three Stooges brought visual slapstick stunts to greater prominence with audiences.

ACROBATICS

In PSS PSS, elements of acrobatics and physical comedy are combined and used as a means of storytelling. Acrobatic performance entails feats of brute strength, agility, coordination and balance. A few examples of acrobatics are performers climbing on top of one another, flipping over each other and using each other as human counterweights. This type of performance dates all the way back to the Minoan civilization, around 2000 B.C.E., when everyday citizens would perform acrobatic feats on top of bulls. While you won’t see any bulls in PSS PSS, you’ll definitely recognize elements of acrobatics!

W HAT DO YOUR STUDENTS KNO W NO W ?

Prior to exploring PSS PSS with your students, find out how much they already know about COMEDY. In addition, allow them to explore the theme: FRIENDSHIP. What makes something funny?

How does comedy help tell a story?

What does “friendship” mean to you?

Do your friends treat you different when you’re sad, happy or mad? How so?

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SO YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT TALENT (THEATER) PSS PSS is about two friends, both of whom have their own unique talents which they showcase through clowning and slapstick comedy. Have your class work together to flip the concept of traditional talent shows on its head by putting on a NO TALENT SHOW! That’s right! Start with having each student bring into the classroom an object that represents their talent, which could be singing, dancing, drawing, painting, a magic trick or even tongue twisters—and have a show and tell. For example, tongue twister might be represented by a braided pretzel! Then, once everyone has shown their object, tell students that they are going to make their talents funny by practicing and showing off their skills as if they’d never done them before. For instance, if one of your students is skilled in the basics of tap, they would be tasked with acting as if they’d never seen a tap shoe before! Once everyone has found their “no talent,” put on a funny showcase for another class! To support this unit, use the Creativity Page: I Love to Laugh! in the Before section.

SLAPSTICK? WHAT’S THAT?! (THEATER, HISTORY, VISUAL ARTS) Elements of slapstick comedy are present throughout PSS PSS, but students might wonder: What exactly is slapstick? When and how did it originate? How did it get its name? Guide your students through a series of lessons focusing on the storied history of this hilarious style of physical comedy by showing them artistic renderings, photos, clips from movies and television sitcoms that feature famous slapstick performances like Punch and Judy, The Little Rascals (1932), The Three Stooges (1934-46) and Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. After you and your students have learned all there is to know about slapstick, have students draw their very own slapstick comedy team mid-routine. Then, create a “Gallery of Comedy” in your classroom to show off their hilarious creations! To support this unit, use the Creativity Page: Friendship! What A Perfect Blendship! in the After section

MAKING LEMONADE (THEATER, SOCIAL STUDIES) The comedic team of performers in PSS PSS work together to overcome obstacles and to learn more about the world around them. They make each other laugh and they support each other—literally and figuratively! After seeing PSS PSS, place your students in pairs and tell them they are now going to be clowning duos, just like the hilarious team in the show! Give each team a classroom problem to solve and tell them that they must solve their problems in a funny way (i.e., Partner A hurt Partner B’s feelings and must win Partner B’s friendship back?!), but they must do this without using words! Then, have each pair show the rest of the class their hilarious, wordless problem-solving scene! Afterward, have a discussion about the importance of finding the “funny” in a negative situation. Ask students questions like: How do we work together to help each other? What did we learn from PSS PSS? What did we learn from each other? To support this unit, use the Creativity Page: How Do You Solve A Problem, Like, With Puppets? in the En Route section.